Over 12,500 accounts opened by SBI

Chandigarh: Public sector lender SBI today said it opened more than 12,500 accounts during two-day special camps organised in four states — Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir — last week.

The Chandigarh circle of the bank organsied camps for the opening of accounts at 405 locations in these states on November 26 and 27, the bank said in a release.

“More than 12,500 accounts were opened over the long weekend. Most of the new customers acquired comprised workers from the unorganised sector, wage earners, women and students. All the new accounts were seeded with Aadhaar and Mobile numbers,” the release said.

All the Customer Service Points (CSPs) run by its Banking Correspondents (BCs) participated in the two-day long account opening campaign.

In order to serve target segments better through its BC Channel, the bank has also installed 645 Micro ATMs at CSPs, mostly in rural and semi-urban areas, including far-flung hilly terrains, it said.

The micro ATMs provide instant cash payment, he said adding remittances to bank’s customers or even to customers of other Banks can also be made using the micro ATMs through Rupay and debit cards.

Bank plans to double the number of such Micro ATMs during December 2016, said release quoting SBI CGM Anil Kishora.